Photographer's Note

digging my old slides, I found this one, 40 years old, showing the cattle market in Purmerend on a wet and unpleasant morning. Nowadays this market finds place in buildings out of the city center, but then it took place in the middle of the town, a place surrounded by cafιs and bars, where you could find the farmers in their wooden clogs (their clothes sometimes a bit smelly) and enjoying genever and coffee, celebrating a good bargain.

Hello Elvira,
My first reaction was that this photo doesn't have your usual perfect sharpness. I changed my mind when I saw the year it was taken. Who am I to complain of slightly lacking sharpness in scanned old slides? It's an amusing photo and a document of a kind of life probably no longer seen in our part of the world. Is the man with the hat making faces at you, or is it just a funny coincidence? And do Dutch farmers still wear wooden clogs?
Best regards,
Gert

Hello Elvira, Interesting picture from the cattle market. I love such places, and especially when they are in exotic places, but also in Europe it is interesting. Funny picture with this guy who saw your camera. Wow, at first I didn't notice it is a 40-year-old picture. Great document. This cow must have been quite precious.
Tomorrow I go to Bayern :)

Hi Elvira
i have many colleagues who wear clogs (i'm a nurse).
the only difference is the clogs are not wooden, they're rubber and quite soft/comfortable. Its the new modern day version of clogs I guess. Its just my opinion, but I always felt they were more 'lady' like, or feminine, not very masculine looking. anyways, your shot is so different from the usual Netherlands shot :) I like it. 40 years have passed, I don't think these two men are still with us today, I wonder how their lives progressed :) fun shot!
cheers
Craig